To Catch A Rabbit
Price: £7.99
Format | E-book, E-Book (USA), Paperback |
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Series | |
Author | Helen Cadbury |
Rights | World English |
ISBN | 9780749017835 |
Description
There is nowhere to run.
A dead woman sits slumped against the door of a grubby trailer. She’s on Sean Denton’s patch, but who is she, how did she get there and why doesn’t CID want to investigate? As Doncaster’s youngest PCSO, Denton takes the case into his own hands, but he’s way out of his depth.
When people are reported missing, Denton must work backwards – facing corruption from outside and inside the force – before anyone else falls victim to South Yorkshire’s deadly underworld of migrants and the sex trade.
What The Critics Said
'Cadbury has a winning formula on her hands. Her writing style is smooth yet intriguing.'Crimesquad
'One of Cadbury’s strengths is conciseness. Characters are often introduced with a considered sketch and there’s never a sense of any padding. The novel, therefore, moves at quite a pace... Cadbury also excels at dialogue and throws in nice snippets of social observation... Cadbury has laid down somes strands to be picked up in subsequent novels'.
'Where Cadbury scores in her debut novel is her portrayal of the gnawing obsession that grips people when their loved ones go missing. She says something important and often forgotten: crime challenges and often changes irrevocably those on the periphery.'Eve Seymour
To Catch A Rabbit 'scores [in the] portrayal of the gnawing obsession that grips people when their loved ones go missing. She says something important and often forgotten: crime challenges and often changes irrevocably those on the periphery'Cheltenham Standard
'This is a novel, almost casually involved with crime. It gripped me from the first... The descriptions of the setting, Yorkshire at its bleakest, the characters, were so subtly slipped in that I absorbed them subliminally... I am now reading this excellent book again'
'It gripped me from the first, and I read it in one 5-hour enthralling session, with only a brief pause for tea.'Angela Hatherell
'Exciting, pacey, vivid and humane. Read it'.Lesley Glaister
'A hugely assure and gripping debut. Let's hope we see a lot more of Sean Denton'Mark Billingham
Have Your Say
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Anne Cater –
I live in Gainsborough, a small town in Lincolnshire that nestles on the boundary with Nottinghamshire and is also a stone’s throw from South Yorkshire. I’ve lived in this area for all of my life and really enjoy reading fiction that is set in this area. I came across To Catch a Rabbit by Helen Cadbury in Waterstone’s Doncaster branch, I’d not heard of the book, or the author before, but was intrigued by a crime novel set in a town that is so familiar to me. I snapped it up and really intended to read it whilst I was on holiday. However, my husband snaffled it before I could get to it, he really enjoyed it, I finally managed to get hold of it and read it this week.
Sean Denton is a young Police Community Support Officer (PCSO), based on the streets of Doncaster, his home town. Sean is very keen, he puts far more into his job than he has to, and often finds himself in situations that are very difficult to get out of.
To Catch a Rabbit has three threads; there’s Sean’s story that starts when he is the first on the scene at what appears to be an accidental heroin overdose. The body of a young girl is discovered in a burger van by two young lads. Also weaved throughout Sean’s case is the story of Karen, an advice worker for refugee and migrants who lives and works in York. Karen’s story then links with the events of Bonfire Night 2007 which are relayed bit by bit throughout the book. Eventually it becomes clear that these three apparently separate stories are very firmly linked together.
The plot is very detailed and at times it can be difficult to understand how it all fits together, but Helen Cadbury’s writing is clever, she manages to introduce some unexpected twists and turns that knit everything together very well.
There are some cracking characters in this story. The star is, of course, Sean Denton. He’s young, inexperienced and at times he appears a little naive and gullible. However, he’s loyal and determined and doesn’t let go of a clue or a lead until he’s got to the bottom of things. He’s a lovable character. The same cannot be said for DCI Barry ‘Burger’ King. He’s fat and rude and clearly thinks that he is a little above the law, excellently portrayed by the author and certainly the master of his own destiny.
Great plot, fabulous characters and very well drawn locations. The Doncaster and North Lincolnshire settings are very authentic, and recognisable. I enjoyed To Catch A Rabbit very much and look forward to reading the next in the series; Bones In The Nest.